Value Proposition Development

'Product Value' is beyond just what the Product Offers as a service/solution. Product Value speaks deeply about the #emotion you insight in your users once they use your provided solutioning Product Value deeply encompasses the 'perceived' benefit or worth that a product offers to its users. The key is to understand what users want and to create a product that can uniquely offer what they are looking for. Use the following framework to understand and communicate the product value better: 1. What Users Want 2. What Product Can Uniquely Offer 3. Where They Create Value Example 1: #ecommerce Platform ▶ What Users Want: Shoppers want a seamless and personalised shopping experience, quick delivery, and competitive prices. ▶ What Product Can Uniquely Offer: The e-commerce platform can provide AI-driven product recommendations, a user-friendly interface, and a subscription-based premium service for faster deliveries. ▶ Where They Create Value: By offering a tailored shopping experience, quick delivery options, and exclusive perks, the e-commerce platform creates value by enhancing user satisfaction, increasing retention, and driving revenue. Example 2: #fitness App ▶ What Users Want: Fitness enthusiasts want effective workout plans, progress tracking, and a supportive community. ▶ What Product Can Uniquely Offer: The fitness app can provide customisable workout routines, real-time performance tracking, and a virtual fitness coach feature that offers guidance and motivation. ▶ Where They Create Value: By addressing users' fitness goals, providing personalised guidance, and fostering a sense of community, the fitness app creates value by helping users achieve their objectives, leading to increased engagement and loyalty. Example 3: #financial Services ▶ What Users Want: Consumers want secure and convenient financial services, including banking, investing, and budget management. ▶ What Product Can Uniquely Offer: The financial services platform can offer a mobile banking app with biometric security, AI-driven investment recommendations, and an integrated budgeting tool. ▶ Where They Create Value: By prioritising security, convenience, and providing a comprehensive suite of financial tools, the platform creates value by simplifying users' financial lives, enhancing trust, and increasing customer retention. #product #innovation #learning #leadership #valuecreation

At Amazon, we would often spend months working on a single paragraph of the PR/FAQ for a new product idea. This was the "problem paragraph". Done well, it could lead to a successful product. Done wrong, it will lead to failure. Here is how to write a successful problem paragraph: The “problem paragraph” defines the customer problem you’re solving. Without this, you will build a product that doesn’t address a customer pain point. It shows whether you truly understand your customer's needs, not just your company’s capabilities. To write this paragraph, start by precisely identifying the customer segment that will be served by your product. Great products are built for specific people with specific needs. For instance, designing a car for single urban professionals under 35 differs significantly from designing for suburban families with three kids and a dog. If you think your product is for everyone, you’re mistaken. A strong way to begin your paragraph is: “Today, [customer segment] has [problem], which they currently solve using [methods A, B, and C]…” Next, quantify the problem: → How large is the segment? (e.g., 17 million households) → What methods do they use? (e.g., 45% use A, 25% use B, 30% use C) → What are the tradeoffs? (e.g., speed, cost, quality) Here’s an example for a hypothetical robot vacuum product: “Today, 15 million busy urban and suburban professionals earning between $100,000 and $200,000 struggle to find the time and energy to keep their homes clean. Approximately 30% of these households use traditional vacuuming, which requires up to 2 hours per week. 55% hire a cleaner at a minimum of $50/week, and 15% use robot vacuums that cost $600 plus $100/year in maintenance, while leaving behind up to 30% of dust and dirt.” This problem paragraph quantifies the customer problem in terms of money, time, and other metrics where possible (in this case, the dust and dirt left behind). The problem should always be quantified; otherwise, how can you assess the potential value of a product that solves it? Well-defined customer problems are built on data-based insights. Insights are gleaned from swimming in data and metrics. This includes customer usage metrics, process or operations metrics, user interviews, demographic data, customer feedback, customer support data and anecdotes. The more data-based and specific your insight, the more accurate and helpful your problem paragraph will be. This is why the process can take months. However, distilling these quantified insights into a single paragraph gives you the best chance at building a truly useful product. At Amazon, this paragraph was always the most debated section in a PR/FAQ. This is because getting the problem wrong is the worst mistake you can make in building a product. Everywhere else, you can pivot. But if the problem is incorrectly diagnosed, nothing else matters. (cont. in comments)

In a crowded marketplace, the businesses that win aren’t always the ones with the best products. They’re the ones that make their value unmistakably clear. I was walking through the Bryant Park Holiday Market in New York City. A swirl of lights, music, and more than a hundred vendors all trying to grab attention. Most booths were charming. Clever names. Cute displays. Plenty of personality. But they all blended together because you had to stop and figure out what they actually sold. Then I saw it. A simple sign. No fancy design. No clever branding. Just three words: “Gifts for Golfers.” Instant clarity. Who they serve. What they offer. Why someone should stop. In a sea of generalists, they stood out because they were specific. And it made me think about how often we bury our own value under jargon, creativity, or complexity. We assume people will get it, but most of the time they’re busy, distracted, and making decisions in seconds. So here’s the real filter to use: Can someone understand who you help and how at a glance? Because whether it’s your LinkedIn profile, your website, or the way you introduce yourself, clarity is a competitive advantage. The easier you make it for people to see themselves in your message, the faster the right opportunities find you. Clarity isn’t the opposite of creativity. Clarity creates space for the right kind of creativity that attracts the people you’re meant to serve.

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲. For some FMCG brands, no price cuts, no problem. The brands growing 3-5X faster than competitors have stopped competing on price entirely. This is the framework of how top CPGs win online. The data is clear; 1️⃣ Digital-first brands like L'Oréal, Nestlé and Procter & Gamble are achieving 3–5X higher unit growth 2️⃣ Their edge: Value communication, optimized digital shelf, and content that converts 3️⃣ They’re using pack strategy and personalization, not blanket discounts, to drive volume ++ 𝟰 𝗧𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗣𝗚 𝗖𝗠𝗢𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝟮 ++ 1. I strongly recommend, stop leading with "20% off" and start with "Here's why this matters to your life." This way you can master value communication over price communication. - Create content that educates, inspires, and justifies your price point - Use storytelling that connects product benefits to real consumer moments - Build trust through transparent ingredient stories and sustainability narratives 2. Your Amazon listing is your new Times Square storefront. Is your digital shelf better then your flagship store by the way? - Invest in premium product imagery and A+ content - Use data-driven SEO to dominate category searches - Leverage customer reviews as social proof, not just feedback 3. Create value through innovation, not desperation. And it happens faster when you deploy strategic assortment & smart pack architecture. - Develop premium formats and limited editions that command higher prices - Use pack sizes strategically to hit different price points without discounting - Test subscription models and bundles that increase customer lifetime value 4. Use technology to deliver the right message to the right consumer. Is there anybody left not leveraging AI for personalization at scale? I didn't think so. :) - Implement dynamic pricing based on demand signals, not competitor panic - Create personalized product recommendations across all digital touchpoints - Use predictive analytics to anticipate consumer needs before they discount-shop 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Brands that compete on value creation, not price destruction, are the ones dominating market share growth. If you’re still defaulting to promotions, this is your wake-up call. 𝗧𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 ecommert® 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝟭𝟰,𝟲𝟬𝟬+ 𝗖𝗣𝗚, 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘁 : 𝗖𝗣𝗚 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿👇 About ecommert We partner with CPG businesses and leading technology companies of all sizes to accelerate growth through AI-driven digital commerce solutions. #CPG #FMCG #ecommerce #AI #retailmedia PepsiCo Mondelēz International Mars The HEINEKEN Company Colgate-Palmolive Reckitt Henkel Kenvue Unilever adidas Nike The Coca-Cola Company

We love technical founders. But their pitch decks read like product roadmaps. If you're moving to the "fundraising" phase, you have to avoid feature-selling. Here are three examples of how investors actually want to see them framed. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 ❌ What founders say: “Teams rely on manual, ad-hoc, or inefficient legacy processes, creating a massive pipeline bottleneck.” ✅ What founders should say: “AI can create 10,000x more data/code in seconds, but legacy validation suites still scale linearly and shatter constantly under the volume.” 💡 The Lesson: Elevate the stakes. Frame the problem around a macro technological shift or systemic pipeline breakage, not just bad human habits or suboptimal workflows. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙑𝙖𝙡𝙪𝙚 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 ❌ What founders say: “Generic AI wrappers lack real context. Our tool unlocks end-to-end automation. Mixes abstract promises with internal, non-validated operational metrics. ✅ What founders should say: “We compress execution cycles from 48 hours to 4 minutes while maintaining enterprise-grade behaviour tracing.” 💡 The Lesson: Translate software capabilities into undeniable, quantifiable enterprise value: Time, Cost, and Defensibility. 𝙀𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙮 𝙏𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 & 𝙄𝘾𝙋 ❌ What founders say: “We have 5 active pilots ranging from startups to mid-market enterprise teams and agency partners.” Signals an unrefined Ideal Customer Profile and opportunistic feature-selling to anyone with a budget. ✅ What founders should say: “We serve fast-growing e-commerce brands doing $1M–$10M in revenue. Our first 5 customers fit this exact profile, and they are already using our tool to automate 30+ marketing campaigns every week.” 💡 The Lesson: Group early traction by highly strategic customer archetypes rather than a flat, disconnected list. Prove systematic market pull, not lucky, one-off sales. What is the hardest part of translating your pitch into a fundable story?

You attract better customers when your message has direction. Most companies rush into campaigns without doing the one thing that matters most: Defining their positioning. Before you talk to the market, you must know what you stand for — your promise, your value, and the exact space you occupy. Because positioning is the compass. It guides your messaging, branding, and every touchpoint your customer sees. It answers the fundamental questions: • Why do we exist? • What value do we bring? • Who exactly is this for? Without that clarity, every campaign becomes guesswork. With it, every message carries purpose and lands with the right people. When your positioning and value proposition are sharp, your entire growth engine aligns: Marketing, branding, advertising, even sales conversations. Even leading ABM frameworks make one thing clear: Account-Based Marketing begins with a tight ICP and strong positioning. That’s what maximizes relevance and eliminates wasted spend. So before your next marketing push, pause. Write down your positioning and your ICP on paper. A Simple 5-Step Framework to Strengthen Your Positioning 1. Define Your Core Promise → State the outcome you deliver in one clean sentence. 2. Identify Your ICP → Industry, size, challenges, budgets, buying triggers to go precise. 3. Clarify Your UVP →Why you win over alternatives example : faster, better, safer or smarter. 4. Map Your Differentiators → List the 3 things you do uniquely well. 5. Craft Your Positioning Statement → Who you help, what problem you solve, how you solve it and why you’re the best choice. This one exercise determines whether your marketing connects… or completely misses. Agree?

Let's face it, most marketing metrics don't travel well to the CFO's office. Pricing power is different. It's measurable, margin-backed, and proof that your brand is strong enough to charge more without losing volume.  To help make sense of it all, I spoke with Chris Burggraeve, Founder of Vicomte LLC and author of books on marketing and business strategy. Together, we discuss what pricing power means, how to measure it, and why it's the most powerful way to communicate marketing value to your CFO and C-suite. In this episode:  📏 What pricing power means and how to measure it  👀 Why brand strength drives profit, not just visibility  🤝 How CMOs can align with CFOs through finance fluency  🔧 The tools and mindset needed to link marketing to valuation  💸 How pricing power bridges marketing metrics with financial outcomes  Tune in for a clearer way to connect brand, margin, and market strength. Listen via the link in the comments.

Years ago, after presenting a new product to about a thousand IBM sellers, my VP pulled me aside and said: “Mark, we know you’re smart. But half the room had no idea what you were talking about.” He was right. I had assumed everyone shared my context. They didn’t. I see the same thing now in enterprise deals. Executives and champions skim. Not because they’re careless, but because they’re overloaded. If the point isn’t obvious - in their terms - on first read, it gets deprioritized. That’s where deals quietly stall. Not because the product is weak, but because the explanation didn’t make the value easy to carry internally. The fix isn’t simplifying the product. It’s making the message easier to use. Make the point clear. Make why it matters clear. Make what happens next clear. In enterprise sales, clarity shortens cycles and determines which ideas get funded.

The cost of confusion. When buyers are confused, they don’t buy. Not because they don’t see value, but because confusion feels unsafe. People would rather make no decision than risk making the wrong one. In sales, that’s the invisible tax we pay for being unclear. A confusing cold email. A confusing call. A confusing proposal. A confusing demo. A confusing website. Clarity isn’t just about simplifying your message. It’s about creating calm in the mind of your prospect. When people understand, they relax. When they relax, they trust. And when they trust, they’re open to change. So before you try to be more persuasive, try being a better explainer. The challenge is you probably haven’t been taught how to explain clearly. The good news? Being a good explainer is a skill you can learn and master. Start by explaining what you do using this framework: “You know how hard it is to get people to pick up the phone when you cold call? Even with direct dials, most of the time you hit voicemail or gatekeepers. With X, you give us a list of people you want to reach, and we tell you who’s most likely to pick up so you have 12 to 15 conversations per 50 dials instead of 1 to 3.” Here’s the breakdown: You know how hard it is to… → The problem your prospect instantly recognizes. With X, you do Y and Z happens. → X is your product, Y is what the customer does, and Z is the outcome they want but don’t yet have. No jargon. No hype. Just clarity. Because clarity builds trust. And without trust, there’s no transaction.

Explaining your "value proposition" is probably doing more harm than good with your prospects.  Value propositions are meaningless to prospects when they don't connect the dots between what your product does and what problems it eliminates. Here's an example: If I were selling cookware, pitching "titanium-plated non-stick pans" would not resonate with my prospects, especially if they liked their current cookware. In order for "titanium-plated non-stick pans" to mean anything of value to my prospect, I would need to remind them of the gnarly egg crust that they had scrub away when doing the dishes last week and then explain that the "features" of my product are what would eliminate their egg-scrubbing problem. ___ Expecting your prospect to infer what problems your "value proposition" solves for them dumps all the work on your prospect. Do the work for them and put 2 and 2 together so they don't have to. You make it far easier for them to understand why your "Automated Billing Workflows" or "Unified Data Platform" or "Titanium-Plated Pan" is valuable when you ALSO tell them what that means for them. It's YOUR responsibility to remind your prospect of the egg stuck to their pan.